Angel With an Attitude (excerpt)

---

Abby waited patiently until she had stumbled down the hall, then he stood.  Slowly, he opened the lid to the aquarium. The familiar scent of the water filled his nostrils.  The surface shimmered like a mirage.  He looked for Amanda with no small amount of trepidation; but she was off in a corner, nibbling at the greenery, paying no attention to him in the slightest.  He closed his eyes and changed.

The water surrounded him like a mother’s arms, rocking him peacefully, supporting him as he drifted an inch below the surface.  He realized that he was holding his breath and exhaled slowly.  The feeling of water streaming between his gills was familiar and comforting now. 

He let the currents created by the filter’s action guide him to the bottom of the tank.  He could see flakes of food embedded in the gravel here and there; experimentally, he nibbled at one, then another.  While he fed, gently stroking the floor of the tank with the delicate tips of his feelers, he felt at peace enough to let his thoughts drift back over the events of the past few days.  From this vantage point, the anxiety and sorrow that had haunted him on the outside were muted, and he was able to think of both Marsha and Ray without too much distress.

At least I have this, he thought.  And Amanda.  And as if hearing his thoughts, the other fish turned her golden-haloed eyes in his direction.  She advanced toward him, opening and closing her mouth almost as if to speak.  Abby waved his tail nervously and moved to one side, expecting her either to pass, or to immediately charge at him.  Instead, she glided closer and closer, as if she were about to kiss him. 

And indeed, their lips did touch.  But then she opened her jaws wider, locking them around Abby’s, and thrashed her body until he was pulled backward.  Eyes wide, he tried to retreat, but in this form he didn’t have the strength to overpower her.  Panic swept over him as realized that he was getting no oxygen at all, and he writhed wildly, pushing back with all his might. They twisted together across the bottom of the tank, clouding the water around them.  Finally, just as Abby was wondering if a fish could pass out, Amanda let go. 

Good thing she couldn’t breathe, either, he thought, his gills gaping wide, stunned at what had just happened. As oxygen began to flow again, Abby realized that he had read about this type of dominance play before.  Somehow, the thought failed to reassure him, and he backed away nervously as Amanda moved toward him again.  She pursued more and more aggressively, until she had him trapped near the deepest section of the greenery.

---